Most Haitians, illiterate and immersed in poverty, know little
of the outside world. But they know who President-elect Clinton is,
and are imagining him as a savior of mythic proportions who will not
only welcome them with open arms if they flee to Miami, but also
restore democracy here.
Along the coast, where scores of boats are being built in open
preparation for a new exodus to the United States, people have taken
fragments of news from radio and local information networks about
what Clinton has said about modifying U.S. policy toward Haiti, and
woven them into an impossible dream of freedom and welcome in a land
of milk and honey. Many also think Clinton will almost magically
restore ...